Overexploitation of the world's fish stocks is growing at an alarming rate, says the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Nearly 90% are either at or exceeding sustainable capacity, and in less than 10 years, production is set to grow by 17%. One of the keys to sustainable fisheries has been the employ of human monitors to watch what is being scooped up from the sea. In the United States, fishing boats are routinely accompanied by independent observers who track compliance with fishing regulations. In other countries' waters, it's a whole different story, so those government and independent agencies hoping to halt overfishing are turning to some of the same digital tools that let social media sites recognize faces in photos.

Russia-based Kalashnikov announced plans to super-size its 7-ton combat vehicle. The gunmaker is developing an unmanned 20-ton'robot' tank capable of carrying both machine guns and anti-tank missiles. The vehicle's predecessor, BAS-01G Soratnik, is designed to support a 30mm gun or eight anti-tank missiles – all while traveling at top speeds of 25 miles per hour. Kalashnikov announced plans to super-size its 7-ton combat vehicle. The firm is developing an unmanned 20-ton'robot' tank capable of carrying both machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

The software, based on voice authentication tech used by banks and insurance, is designed to analyze the dialects of refugees based on speech samples. That indicator can then be used to help authorities figure out if the person comes form a particularly war-torn area and is thus truly in need of asylum. Experts are concerned about the accuracy of the software and that potential immigrants could be coached to game it. "I don't see how automated software can distinguish whether a person uses a certain word or pronounces it in a particular way because this is part of their own repertoire or because they were primed to do so by the interviewer or interpreter," University of Essex linguistics Professor Monika Schmid told Deutsch Welle. Instead, she believes the job is best left to BAMF's 45 linguistics experts, who cover 80 languages and have done such work since 1998.

Artificial intelligence, which uses algorithms and rules-based logic to automate a wide variety of tasks within many verticals, is hot. It occupies the top spot in 2017 tech trend lists from such notable companies as Ericsson and Gartner. Cognitive systems and AI adoption across a broad range of industries are likely to drive worldwide revenues from nearly $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020, according to IDC. Automated customer service agents is one of the key AI areas that attracted investment last year, the research firm noted. "From better purchase recommendations, to smarter customer service that predicts what a consumer is actually trying to do, AI promises to fundamentally transform entire businesses and industries," said Scott Horn, CMO at customer engagement solution provider [24]7.

If rumors that James Cameron is interested in picking up Terminator 6 prove true, perhaps Bill Gates will be in the running for a cameo. Gates recently cautioned that robots are replacing humans in a wide range of jobs, and he proposed implementing a robot tax as a way to temporarily slow the spread of automation. He was promptly -- and predictably -- trashed by a bevy of economists. Lawrence Summers, the former U.S. treasury secretary, dubbed Gates' plan "protectionism against progress," and others scoffed that the founder of Microsoft had joined the ranks of Luddites. Economic growth has slowed markedly in the past decade, they pointed out.

The technologies making waves in 2017 include brain implants and quantum computers. Here is a list of the top 10 technologies that are expected to be prevalent this year, according to MIT. At the top of the list is behavior-reinforced artificial intelligence. Whether that's mastering the complex game of Go and beating a champion or learning to merge a self-driving car into traffic. The technology is based on reinforcement learning, documented more than a 100 years ago by psychologist Edward Thorndike.

Sony has announced that it will soon end production of the console in Japan. It's likely that it will stop being made everywhere else soon after. The company hasn't announced the date that production will come to an end, or made a public announcement about it. But on Sony's website it lists the 500GB standard model as the only one remaining in production in the country, and states that "shipments are scheduled to end soon". The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. Japan's On-Art Corp's CEO Kazuya Kanemaru poses with his company's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' and other robots during a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan Singulato Motors co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin poses in his company's concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China A picture shows Singulato Motors' concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.

Robots have learned how to communicate with each other by creating their own language, a new report explains. Experts at artificial intelligence research group OpenAI conducted an experiment that challenged software bots to complete a series of tasks, such as moving to a specific location, in a simple, two-dimensional virtual world. The team used a technique called reinforcement learning, presenting the challenges as cooperative rather than competitive, and rewarding the robots for completing them. "We've just released initial results in which we teach AI agents to create language by dropping them into a set of simple worlds, giving them the ability to communicate, and then giving them goals that can be best achieved by communicating with other agents," wrote the OpenAI team in a blog post. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

The age of the bot has begun. We just have barely begun to notice. It's only been 10 years, and smartphones have fundamentally changed our world, the bot revolution will come quicker, and have an even greater impact on us. The bots cometh in all shapes and sizes, hardware and software, automations and AI and robot fried and foe. But most likely our most common interaction with them in the very near future will be in the form of messenger/personal assistant and customer service bots.

In a move that hopes can propel it to the forefront of The Next Big Thing, Intel announced it would purchase Mobileye, an Israeli company that makes sensors and cameras for driverless vehicles. Buying a leader to become a leader is never cheap: Intel will pay $13.3B for the firm, a 34% premium over Mobileye's closing price last Friday. The two companies have a history of collaboration, having announced a partnership with BMW last year to put driverless vehicles on the road by 2021. But until this acquisition, it was hard to take Intel seriously in the automotive market; Intel only has a partial solution in-house. It takes specialized silicon to keep up with the massive data rates generated by a vehicle or a missile, and Mobileye brings that needed capability to Intel.